


Not a clue

by pearls_n_lycheejelly



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Continuing on from season 1, F/M, Identity Reveal, Romance, adrienette - Freeform, both of them are oblivious idiots as always
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-07 10:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18871258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearls_n_lycheejelly/pseuds/pearls_n_lycheejelly
Summary: Alya comes up with an evil plan to get her two idiot friends together......which might accidentally end up revealing more than just a small crush





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette was (once again) dragged by her best friend to lunch with the boys. Marinette was (once again) not completely opposed to the idea. Her face was as pink as her signature pants and she was 100% ready to make a complete fool of herself.

…well at least that’s what she wanted to think. In the time between the end of class and the beginning of lunch, Alya apparently decided that her day hadn’t been entertaining enough – which is why she took it upon herself to wreak havoc in her friends’ lives.

“So Adrien… despite being the most desirable bachelor in all of Paris you’re still as single as ever,” Alya slyly glanced in Marinette’s direction, “why don’t we put a change to that?”

There was a second of awkward pause at the table. Or maybe it was a moment of silence to mourn the death of Marinette’s sanity.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” The poor boy dropped his spoon into his pumpkin soup, splattering it all over his shirt. Marinette practically flung herself across the length of the table with a napkin in her outstretched hand, and almost plummeted her face into his soup in the process.

Alya continued talking despite the chaos unfolding in front of her: Marinette sprawled across the table, Adrien with orange gunk on his shirt and Nino with his face buried in his hands.

“You heard me right lover boy,” she threw in a _completely unnecessary_ wink _thank you very much_ , “I’ll tell you what you need to know, and you can solve my mystery.”

“Um wha-“

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity Adrien! You’re so hopeless with love that you’ve forced me to lead you right to your soulmate.”

“I don’t need-“

“By the end of the year you’ll be in a happy, loving-“

“I don’t want a-”

“-relationship! And nope, there’s no need to thank me.”

“Alya c’mon.”

“I only want the best for you.”

“I don’t need you to set me up with anyone. Plus, do you know how much trouble I’d be in if my dad found out I had a girlfriend?” Adrien looked over at his best friend for support, wiping up his shirt, “Nino?”

Alya narrowed her eyes at him. He was dead meat if he didn’t agree with her.

“Sorry I’m with Alya on this one. You _are_ pretty oblivious when it comes to this stuff.” He smiled helplessly and shrugged.

“Marinette?”

Her name coming from his mouth was enough to completely ruin her. All she could get out were a few noises sounding vaguely of a strangled cat.

“I think she’ll be out of commission for a while. Come back tomorrow.”

Adrien (bless his soul) looked more concerned for Marinette’s wellbeing than for his current situation, “Marinette? You good?”

She made a vague sound of confirmation and writhed from her resting place on the table back to her seat. She slowly blinked and stared into the soul of her blueberry pastry because she sure as hell wasn’t going to look at the blonde sitting in front of her.

Alya was going to die one day. That day was gonna be today.

“She’ll be alright,” _that little snake._

“Are you su- “

“Yep!!! Anyway, are you on board?”

“I’m still slightly doubtful about this,” he grumbled.

“Just hear me out, alright? We all know that you have a huge list of people competing for your precious little heart, but there’s one person I don’t think you’ve considered.”

“…right…?”

“So I’m going to give you a little push in the right direction.”

Nino interjected, “Adrien has random people coming up to him every day asking for his autograph. What makes this person so special?”

“This person not only values Adrien for his stunning appearance,” Alya wiped away fake tears melodramatically, “but for his heart of gold.”

Nino’s eyes travelled to look at Marinette on the other side of the table, raising a single eyebrow in question. Alya’s grin in response was so sinful it would make Chat Noir blush.

Theory confirmed.

“Oh you are _so_ evil.”

Adrien looked as lost as ever, “Nino, I really feel like I’m missing something here.”

“Don’t worry - it’s nothing.” Alya waved him off as if he was a two-year-old asking too many stupid questions. “First of all, let’s gather what we know. These are the people who we already know like you: Chloe,” She counts _one_ on her pointer finger.

“Lila,” a second finger goes up for _two_.

“That waitress who was totally hitting on you the other day,” she continued talking before Adrien could object. _Three._

“Your hundred bajillion fangirls,” _four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…_

“…and then there’s one final person who is definitely, completely, totally head-over-heels for you.” _Ten._

“Do I know her?”

His three friends had to gather all their self-control to hold back their facepalms. How could someone so smart be so dumb?

“That’s for you to find out.”

Adrien huffed, “I still don’t understand why you’re this invested in my love life.”

Alya just shrugged enigmatically (although her motivations were no longer a mystery to either Marinette or Nino).

“Do you accept my challenge or not?”

With an exasperated sigh, Adrien nodded. Maybe his agreeance would shut Alya up for enough time to let him actually think. It wasn’t exactly a surprise that he was an idol to a lot of girls around Paris - it came with the job. But he was at a loss as to why Alya was being so persistent. If he was being honest, it sparked his curiosity.

“Where do we go from here, then?”

“Every week I’ll text you a new ‘clue’ about who the soon-to-be love of your life is. All you have to do is connect the dots.”

“Why do I feel like this is going to be more difficult than it sounds?”

“Don’t jinx yourself.”

“How do you even know about this person’s feelings?”

“I’m a journalist, Adrien. I have my sources.”

As he opened his mouth to ask more questions, the bell rang abruptly to signify the end of lunch. This was Marinette’s chance to save herself and salvage her dignity.

“SorryAlyaandIhavetogotothebathroomquicklybye!!!” Marinette blurted out the almost incomprehensible mess of a sentence and dragged Alya behind her.

Her friend even had to nerve to shout over her shoulder, “I’ll text you the details tonight!!”

This girl was about to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so!
> 
> This is my first fic aaaaa!! Kinda scary to be posting my work online but we'll see how it goes :) Hopefully someone out there reads it
> 
> Also sorry this chapter is a little short - I'm maybe kinda in the middle of exams so it was really rushed lol. I just needed an excuse to procrastinate tbh
> 
> Hope u guys liked it, I'll try to update regularly? Again, we'll see how it goes
> 
> Thanks for reading


	2. Chapter 2

In this world there are many levels at which one can be stabbed in the back:

There’s ‘hey I left your money at home. I’ll bring it next week?’

The next level up is ‘we organised plans without you over the weekend.’

Even ‘I just sold your house to a wealthy supervillain because he needed a secret evil lair’ has an upside or two.

But that stunt Alya just pulled? That was the most betrayed Marinette had ever felt in her entire life.

 

The bathroom was busy with the post-bell rush, and Alya thanked her lucky stars that there were too many witnesses to dispose of if there was a murder. Marinette was gripping the side of the sink as if it was her weapon of choice – perfectly ready to rip it to out of the wall to throw at Alya. She was making a very convincing case of being angry rather than absolutely mortified.

“What the hell was that?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“Hmmmmmnope can’t say I do!”

Marinette glared at Alya.

Alright, maybe she would just have to deal with the witnesses. Plus, the tiled floor would be relatively convenient to mop any mess off.

“I didn’t even mention you over lunch.”

“So you’re saying you _weren't_ talking about me?”

“I just thought I’d put you on the fast track to a relationship with your favourite supermodel extraordinaire.” That traitor even waggled her eyebrows cheekily. _The audacity._

“I don’t need my relationship to be fast tracked! What if this ruins whatever small friendship I’ve spent the whole year trying to build?” She paused for a second, and then mumbled, “and just so you know, I was fully planning on asking him out by the end of this year.”

“It’s already the end of the first semester! You can’t even hold up a conversation with the guy – how do you think you’re going to establish a fully-fledged relationship in half a year?”

“He’s-I’m–just-wha-what if he doesn’t want to go out with me?”

“He agreed to my plan though, right?”

“Yeah, because he doesn’t know you’re talking about me.”

“But he’s willing to find out?”

With a best friend like Alya, Marinette may as well give her miraculous directly to Hawkmoth to save him the trouble of akumatising her.

“Even if that’s true, telling him wasn’t your decision to make!”

“You’re the one always asking me for ideas to try and seduce him.”

“I have never _in my life_ tried to _seduce-_ “

“Okay maybe seduce was a bit of a strong word.”

“Mmhm.”

“What I meant to say was ‘get out a full sentence around him’.”

“Alya!”

“Am I wrong?”

Marinette poked out her tongue.

“Yes,” she said indignantly.

“You’re the one who’s stolen his phone, like, ten times.”

“Alya, please- “

“All I’m saying is that you totally needed the help.”

The scuffle to get to class had finally quietened down, and the two girls were the only people left in the bathroom. They stood off against each other, neither willing to back down. The _drip, drip_ of the faucets punctuated the silence in the absence of background chatter and the constantly blowing hand drier. They were definitely going to be late back to class, but by this point Ms Bustier was used to it.

Finally, one of them (Marinette couldn’t even remember who, looking back on the memory) huffed to break the silence,

“We should get back to class.”

“Fine.”

 

* * *

 

 

Adrien was an oblivious idiot, but miraculously he had a smidge of self-awareness about it. Unfortunately, this self-awareness couldn’t help him put his finger on why the stares boring into the back of his head were bothering him so much.

“Nino, what’s up with Marinette and Alya?” He whispered while Ms Bustier carried on about their upcoming assignment.

“I… dunno, man…” he replied, apparently suddenly engrossed in the discussion of something vaguely science-y. Fascinating.

Adrien couldn’t figure out whether he was just imagining things, or if his obliviousness was shrouding his view from something very obvious. (Probably the second option… but how was he supposed to know that?) The fact that all of the puzzle pieces were there but he couldn’t _quite_ put them together bothered him more than if he was left completely in the dark. The uncharacteristic silence coming from the two girls behind him was quite off-putting too.

On top of his confusion, the way Marinette stared at her lunch earlier today had concerned him. She had:

a) found some especially unpleasant mould residing in her pastry

(he doubted that – anything baked in the Dupain-Cheng patisserie was nothing but flawless)

b) the soup monster painted on his shirt was scaring her

(while it was a particularly horrific sight, it was nothing compared to the city’s frequent akumas)

c) she had something on her mind that was very, very troubling

(definitely a possibility… but what could it be?)

Adrien racked his brain for any potentially upsetting topics they discussed at lunch, but all he could come up with was Alya’s “plan”. There was no reason for Marinette to be hurt about it though – why would she be upset about his love life? If anything, she’d been showing a distaste towards him ever since he arrived at the school; always quick to avoid conversation, or stuttering (in anger? Annoyance?) every time they actually talked.

He’d thought that their friendship had been growing throughout this year though; all thanks to the amazing influences of Alya and Ultimate Mecha Strike 3. Marinette had been opening up to him a bit more, and even sometimes seemed to enjoy their conversations. He was happy to call her his friend, and hoped she felt the same way.

Unluckily, the way her eyes drilled holes into the back of his head informed him otherwise.

 

* * *

 

 

Marinette hadn’t been paying attention to Ms Bustier’s presentation, only listening out for the signal marking the end of the day. She’d left the classroom as quickly as possible after the bell rang, sprinting away at a speed usually reserved for escaping akumas.

“Marinette! Wait up,” Alya almost tripped as she ran down the stairs. How the tables turn.

Marinette considered her options before slowing down to let her friend catch up to her, “what?”

“I was thinking during class, and maybe I was a bit out of line.”

“You don’t say?”

The pair started walking home at a slower pace.

“Hey… I’m sorry. I should’ve asked you first.”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I genuinely thought that this could be fun… and possibly work?”

“…yeah, I know,” Marinette’s eyes were fixed on the pavement, “I’ve been considering it too and see where you were coming from. You might’ve approached it in a questionable way, but I appreciate the thought,” her gaze shifted upwards to face her friend.

“Look - if you’re really against this, I’ll just tell him it was a joke. He doesn’t need to know any more than what I told him at lunch – which is practically nothing related to you.”

“Yes. Yes please.”

“I wouldn’t ever outright tell him who I was setting him up with.”

“Uh huh?”

“To be honest, I thought it’d be funny to watch the innocent guy freak out. I should’ve run it by you first.”

“Alya, why are you always like this?”

“I dunno, I just like seeing the calm and collected boy panic. And you too.”

_Hmph._

“Gee, thanks.”

Although her words showed irritation, Marinette couldn’t help but smile a bit. Alya’s boldness was one of the reasons she loved her so much.

“I’m not going to lie… I am a little curious about what you would’ve said to him if you decided to text him tonight…?” Marinette giggled a little bit. So what if she was a _biiiiit_ interested?

Alya knew she’d been forgiven. Thank goodness for Marinette and her never ending fountain of kindness.

“Really?”

“Yep – tell me everything!!”

Alya smiled deviously. _Back to her old self I see_ , Marinette thought.

“But you said you didn’t want to do this - it can all stop right here. We can end this journey right now.”

“Alya, come on.”

“Y’know, your journey with Adrien. A house together, a hamster together- “

“Alya! I’m not going to agree with you at all if you keep carrying on like this.”

“Okay I’ll stop. I stop… but that means you’ll never ever have a chance of holding his warm hands, or playing footsies with him on a date, or getting near his beautiful, soft-“

“FINE. Fine. I agree.” Marinette reached out and clung desperately to Alya’s arm. “Just please stop talking.”

“YES! I promise you won’t regret this decision!!” Jumping up and down with enough energy for two people, Alya pumped her free hand in the air.

“Just… don’t give away hints that are too revealing.”

“Gotcha. He’s pretty dense anyway so I doubt he’ll realise I’m talking about you until I’ve pretty much spelt out your name.”

“…okay that’s kinda true.”

“I’m gonna get you a boyfriend by the end of the year. I even have a money-back guarantee.”

“Suuuure… but what if he ends up hating me forever instead?”

“He’s, like, the nicest guy alive.”

“…okay that’s also kinda true.”

“See? You’ll be fine.”

Marinette couldn’t help but smile and squeal a little bit (a lot).

Alya was too much trouble for her own good, but dammit if that didn’t just make her a genius.

Maybe

(hopefully)

this could somehow actually work.

 

* * *

 

 

Adrien spun around on his wheelie chair again and again and again. He would love to say that today’s events had no effect on him, but despite getting constantly propositioned he had a _feeling_ that today’s setup was different.

“Plagg, what should I do?”

The tiny god just kept playing Clash Royale (his newest addiction behind camembert) on Adrien’s phone.

“I can’t give up my chance with Ladybug for this random girl I might not even like.”

“Mmhm?”

“No offense to this person – she’s probably pretty nice.”

“Mmmmhm?”

“What if Alya’s exaggerating and she’s just another fangirl?”

“Mmmmmmmmmhm?”

“What if she’s not my type?”

“Not your type? As in not wearing a red suit with black polka-dots?”

“That’s not what I- “

“You really are hopeless, aren’t you?”

“I’m serious! I just can’t see how this is going to work.”

Plagg surrendered the last tower on his small screen to the opponent, and then turned to face Adrien.

“Well it’s obvious that Ladybug isn’t accepting your advances anytime soon,” _ouch_ , “maybe you’ll actually have a chance with this person,” Adrien genuinely couldn’t tell if Plagg was being sarcastic.

“What if I meet her and decide that I hate her? Or I could meet her only to discover that she’s Hawkmoth in disguise!”

“Or you could meet her and find out that she’s Ladybug in disguise?”

“Ha. Very funny.”

“I’m just sayin’.”

Adrien slammed his head onto the table in utter defeat and confusion. To make matters worse, he was feeling dizzy from spinning on his chair.

Great.

As he was pondering the mysteries of life (why did he always have to be the unlucky one?), a new notification lit up his phone:

 

**Sent 7:31, 2/12/19: Alya**

**Clue #1: opposites attract**

 

“Plagg…?”

That cheeky little rascal was nowhere to be seen.

 

* * *

 

 

Marinette arrived home and flopped squarely onto the centre of her bed. If she sounded like a strangled cat earlier that day, she now sounded like a fully-fledged four-part choir of cats getting strangled in harmony.

This could either end in a complete miracle or a complete catastrophe.

For her whole high school life, she’d taken comfort in the fact that Adrien was an oblivious idiot to her feelings. But then Alya had to come in and steal her warm, comfortable blanket of safety.

But then again, it was the beginning of summer. Maybe it was getting too hot for a blanket.

The very thought of Alya’s plan succeeding brought butterflies (the good kind) to her stomach. She imagined the way Adrien would smile at her by the end of the year. Not the kind of smile he would give her right now – a polite, carefully practiced one; but the smile she would see him give Nino when he greeted him before school, or the smile he made when they got comfortable playing Ultimate Mecha Strike 3 together, or even the smile he makes after letting slip a (terrible!) pun. She often tried to imagine the way his hair would be ruffled after he got up in the morning, or how it would feel to have his face close enough to hers that the tips of their noses brushed against each other. And don’t even get her started on what she would do if he flirted with her in that casual way couples do.

(She conveniently ignored the way Chat fulfilled all of those daydreams. That was _different_.)

As annoying as her friend was, Alya always found a way to make things go her way… for better or for worse. She was going to simultaneously be Marinette’s saviour and her undoing.

Speak of the devil: a new notification popped up on her phone:

 

**Sent 7:35, 2/12/19: Alya**

**Just thought I’d keep you up to date with my shenanigans ;)**

 

**Sent 7:36, 2/12/19: Alya**

**Clue #1: opposites attract**

 

Cue her tenth freak-out of the day.

Was the clue too obvious? Too vague? Or was she just overthinking things?

 _Well_  , she thought, _I_ _might just have to get some advice from a trusted friend_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the endings of each scene were kinda rushed? Idk, I'll try improving on that in the future sorry.. I hope u liked this chapter anyway?
> 
> Lol also,,sorry for the reference to clash royale
> 
> but guys it's a good game


End file.
